


do me a favour - can your heart rate rise a little?

by nosecoffee



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Annoying Kids, Arcade AU, Comedy, Finally, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Games, Had the potential to be a fake dating au, Heidi and Evan are Jewish, I don't know where this is going yet, I'm guessing, Jokes, Kissing, Laser Tag, M/M, Misunderstandings, New Conspiracy: Connor didn't finish the milk, PAC Man, Slow Burn, Slushies, That's right, The Amazing Asshole Jared Kleinman, The Prize Shelf, Twitter, arcade games, but i chickened out, the Hansen's own an Arcade, time stamps, whack-a-mole, what a great trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2018-12-11 11:10:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11713182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nosecoffee/pseuds/nosecoffee
Summary: Opening/Closing TimesSunday - Thursday: 9 am - 12 amFriday: 9 am - 7 pmSaturday: 9 pm - 3 am“Hey, asshole!” Jared yells. “I want a rematch! No one beats me at air hockey!”“Except, apparently, me.” Connor grins, and shoves the wad of tickets in his jacket pocket, before dropping it on the floor behind him. “You’re paying this time.”Jared rolls his eyes, and does so, hunching over his end of the table. Evan watches Connor beat Jared, again.





	1. say there's this person you pass in the hall every day

**Author's Note:**

> Story title from 'Would You Be So Kind' by Dodie Clark
> 
> Chapter title from 'A Guy That I'd Kinda Be Into' from Be More Chill
> 
> I have no idea where this is going, so bare with me
> 
> Here's the link to a Spotify playlist I made that I think should work with the mood of this fic, so you can listen to it while reading? Idk, I liked it, take a look, if you want.
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/user/jemmylouphil/playlist/5EOMdOTOgBJ2aFg4NgrRI8?si=P5ydfzGS
> 
> And, while you're at it, why don't you check out some awesome fanart based on a Jared tweet from the third chapter by @yakleaves (@crabcrown on Tumblr)?
> 
> https://crabcrown.tumblr.com/post/167793985138/why-did-i-draw-jared-kleinman-having-a-pokemon

**{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** We’ve just gotten in our largest prize yet! The prize is worth 250 tickets! _pic.twitter.com/pKHC1Aiu_ **}  
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**{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@Hansen_Arcade_ where did you get a Pikachu plushie that big? **}**  
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{Hansen** **Arcade** **@Hansen_Arcade** _retweeted @CronchKleinman’s post: “where did you…”_ the deep web, dude. **}**

**(3/2/17, 5:43 pm)**

~

"Hey, whatever happened to that hot girl?" Evan turns around, and stares at Jared. He's trying to get all the tickets stuck in the Cyclone machine out for a crying kid.

"Jared, I can't do this, right now." He says, turning back to the mess of tickets in the ground.

"Hey, kid," Jared whistles and gestures for the crying little girl to come over to him. She's probably about seven. Jared crouches down. "What's your favourite game in here?"

The little girl points to the Cyclone machine. Jared sighs and rubs his eye, below his glasses.

"Besides the Cyclone."

The girl points to _Dance Dance Revolution._

"Okay, I'm gonna give you money for two games. You go and play that, and by the time you're finished, we'll have your tickets sorted out, okay?" She nods and Jared hands her a handful of quarters.

She runs off towards _Dance Dance Revolution,_ and Jared goes back to half-leaning, half-sitting on the Cyclone machine.

"Maybe you should work here," Evan mumbles, giving the chain of tickets a faint tug, just to see if it'll come loose. "You're weirdly awesome with the kids."

Jared shrugs. "Nah, I'd never give up Lush. Sales actually went up after they hired me, if you can believe it." Evan scoffs and finally manages to unstick the coil of tickets from the machine. The kid hit the fucking jackpot, which means he has to get down the huge fucking Pikachu plush toy from above the counter, and Evan just knows that'll be hell itself.

"Excuse me while I don't." He replies.

"Asshole. Anyway," Jared drawls, watching Evan pick himself up from the floor, a mountain of tickets in his arms, "where did the hot girl with the purple hair go?"

"What hot girl?" Evan huffs in annoyance, ducking under the counter so he can get to the register.

"The one who worked here." Jared says, rolling his eyes in annoyance. He leans on his elbows at the top of the counter. "She used to swat at me with the broom."

Evan frowns, adding up the tickets. How the fuck did this kid win? "Zoe?" He asks, absentmindedly.

"Yeah," Jared snaps his fingers, the way he does when he remembers something that was bothering him. "Zoe."

Evan looks up at Jared, confused. "...Zoe got fired. A week ago."

"What?" Jared cries. "Why?"

"She was on shift at a kids party and the power went out. She didn't deal with it well. Mom wasn't happy." Evan shakes his head and dumps the tickets at his feet. "How did you not know about this?"

Jared waves a dismissive hand, "I'm unobservant as fuck." He seems to ponder this, for a second. "Is she the reason you had to get the front window repaired?"

"Yeah." Evan sighs, giving the aforementioned window a disdainful look. It had been terribly expensive. He remembers receiving Zoe's frantic, apology-ridden phone call, remembers his mother’s distorted anger. "It's also why mom's on in the afternoons again."

"Looking for a replacement, huh?" Jared high-fives one of the kids rushing past to get to the car-simulator games.

"Yeah. Mom's really regretting firing Zoe." Evan confesses, and glances, quickly, at the entrance to the laser tag maze, where his mom is trying to explain the rules to a group of loud fourteen year-olds, who keep yelling over her. "She hasn't been this stressed in ages."

"That sucks." Jared doesn't sound that sympathetic. "I miss Zoe."

Evan rolls his eyes. "You only liked her because you thought she was hot."

"So? You thought she was hot, too." Evan opens his mouth to deny this allegation, but Jared cuts him off. "You kept making heart-eyes at her, every time she was in sight."

"I don't want to have this conversation." Evan groans, putting his face in his hands. It's true; Zoe was very pretty, and she smiled at him a lot. Even after she got fired - she touched his arm lightly, whenever she passed him in the halls, at school. He's gotten used to it, by now, but, the first time, he was really freaked out. Evan shakes the thoughts away, fluttering away like dust, and points over at _Dance Dance Revolution._ "Go and get the kid. See which prize she wants, and if she says the goddamn Pikachu, bludgeon me over the head with the _Whack-A-Mole_ hammer and get it for her."

"Okie dokie, Acorn." Jared snorts, and strides over to the brightly flashing game.

Evan counts up the tickets and feels a soft hand on his back. His first thought is _Zoe,_ and he blushes. He really needs to get over that dumb, short-lived crush. His second thought is _mom._

Evan stands up straight, and sees his mom on the other side of the counter. "Hey, honey." She says, and smiles tiredly.

"Hey, mom." He glances at the screen display for the laser tag maze. "They give you grief?"

She laughs, and rolls her eyes, ducking under the counter, and joining him over by the cashier. "No more than usual. Why'd I see you with a shitload of tickets, earlier? The Cyclone machine break again?"

Evan shakes his head and gestures to the neat piles on the counter. “Some seven year-old got the jackpot.”

"Oh, shit." She murmurs. "I was hoping the damn thing was rigged."

"I just know she's gonna want the Pikachu. I sent Jared to get her, but..."

Evan glances over at _Dance Dance Revolution_ and gapes in dismay at the sight of Jared versing the little girl, while a crowd of other kids watch.

"Fucking hell." He swears, and turns back to his mother. She's glaring at the tickets like they've done her wrong. "You're pissed." Evan notes.

"I'm not pissed!" Heidi cries. She glances back at the tickets and a grimace settles on her features. "Okay, I'm a little pissed. She's gonna pick the fucking Pikachu."

"I think so." Evan agrees and hears the crowd of children begin cheering. It appears that the little girl has won. Jared high-fives her and lifts her up on his shoulder to wave at her adoring fans. "Oh, for fucks sake."

"He's weirdly good with the kids." Heidi murmurs, leaning heavily on the countertop.

"He is." Evan says, watching him parade the little girl over to the counter, still on his shoulder. She holds about fifteen tickets in her hands.

"Which one do you want?" Jared asks her. She peers at the prize shelf for a moment, before pointing at the top shelf.

Evan and Heidi let out twin sighs. Heidi goes in search of the ladder.

"Shall I fetch you the _Whack-A-Mole_ hammer?" Jared asks, cheeky smile on his lips.

"I'd say something to you right now, if the kid wasn't here." Evan groans into his hands. He looks up at the kid. "Where are your parents?"

She shrugs.

**(3/7/17, 7:12 pm)**

~

 **{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** _retweeted @Hansen_Arcade’s post: “We’ve just gotten…”_ Nevermind. Here's a picture of the lucky winner! _pic.twitter.com/bAFI4Ter_ **}**

**(3/7/17, 7:28 pm)**

~

It's the early Sunday morning shift, and Evan's just finished cleaning up some kids vomit from the laser tag maze (how he'd missed that on his clean-up rounds last night were beyond him, because it stunk) when the bell on the front door dings and a tall guy walks in. He pushes a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes, and looks around the arcade with wide, curious eyes.

Evan's never seen this guy in here, before. He looks a little familiar, though. Evan thinks he saw him in the car, when Zoe used to get picked up on the late shifts, sitting behind the wheel. Yeah. Isn't that Zoe's infamous older brother? The one she used to complain about when she was on shift?

"Uh, hi!" Evan calls out, and the guy looks over. _Oh, yeah,_ Evan thinks, _very familiar._ He's seen him at school, napping with his head in his arms in the library, or in detention whenever he passes by the doorway. Thinks he's seen him in line at the cafeteria, and printing something out in the computer lab, meeting his eyes in the hallways, in the parking lot, in the change room.

"Hey," he has a nice voice, Evan notes. If he's right, if this is Zoe's brother - Connor, was it? - there's definitely something wrong with Evan. "You work here?"

"Y-yeah. How can I h-he-help you?" Evan blushes.

Connor walks over to the counter, rifling through his ratty messenger bag. "I'm Connor Murphy, Zoe's brother. My parents sent me here, with this, to give you and your mother our sincere apologies." Connor passes him a slip of paper. Evan looks back and forth between Connor and the paper.

Shit, he's got a thing for Murphy's, apparently.

"We hope this covers any expenses that need to be paid because of Zoe's incident."

"I don't understand..." Evan trails off, and actually looks at the paper. There's a signature at the bottom and then a large number at the top. "Is this a cheque?"

Connor nods. "We heard from Zoe that your front window got broken. I know it's fixed now, but we figured you would like the money."

Evan swallows at the number. It's a reasonably large sum. They could probably get that jukebox they'd been planning on since May. Maybe even that popcorn machine. And repair the out of order pinball machine that they'd been putting off fixing. They could buy another claw machine.

"This is..." he doesn't know what to say. "Thank you."

Connor gives him a grim smile. "I really am sorry about what Zoe did." He sounds sincere, a lot less mad than Zoe's dad did, when he came to pick her up.

Evan shakes his head. "It wasn't her fault."

"It was." Connor insists. "You're Evan, right?"

"That's me." Evan nods, and offers him a small smile. Not the same as the one he gives parents when they come in looking for their kids, and not the same as the one he gives him mom, whenever they get quiet moments.

"Right." Connor offers him a similar smile. He begins walking backwards. "Well, see you around."

Connor barely misses walking right into Galaga. Evan stifles a laugh. Connor shoots him a pleasantly surprised look, and leaves, and Evan looks back at the cheque. He hopes his mom gets back from buying candy for the claw machine soon. She's not going to believe this.

**(3/12/17, 9:29 am)**

~

 **{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** PSA: A reminder to customers that Daylight Savings has no effect on opening  & closing times. 1/2 **}  
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{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade ** We close early on Friday afternoons & open late on Saturday nights. Thank you. 2/2 **}**

**(3/13/17, 3:41 pm)**

~

Evan is very aware that Jared cuts school on Thursday afternoons. Evan is very aware that Jared has a free period there. Evan is very aware that he likes to hang out at the arcade, even if Evan isn’t there.

What Evan is, apparently, _not_ aware of, is that Connor Murphy also happens to, conveniently, have a free period there, and also happens to, conveniently cut school on Thursday afternoons because of said free period, and also happens to, conveniently, hang out at the arcade.

Which is why Evan walks in, on Thursday afternoon, after school lets out, to find Jared shouting angrily at Connor as Connor continually beats him at air hockey.

“Um,” Evan says, and watches Jared clock him with a grimace. Connor looks over his shoulder, and seems to get caught on looking at Evan, meaning that Jared scores his first goal of the game. 1 against Connor’s 9.

Jared whoops. “I should get you to make abrupt entrances more often, Acorn!” He crows, and Connor regains his focus, immediately catching Jared off guard and scoring the winning point. The table buzzes and ejects ten tickets.

“What can I get for ten tickets?” Connor asks, pulling them out of the dispenser, and turning around to face Evan.

“Um,” Evan says, again, and watches a smile twitch at the corner of Connor’s lips. “I’d have to check.”

“Hey, asshole!” Jared yells. Evan fixes him with a glare, but Jared looks nonplussed. “I want a rematch! No one beats me at air hockey!”

“Except, apparently, me.” Connor grins, and shoves the wad of tickets in his jacket pocket, before dropping it on the floor behind him. “You’re paying this time.”

Jared rolls his eyes, and does so, hunching over his end of the table. Evan watches Connor beat Jared, again. Three minutes has got to be some kind of record. Connor receives another ten tickets.

Jared mutters, inserting more coins, and calls for yet another rematch. Connor complies with a grin.

Evan has to leave and set up a birthday party, and, when he returns, Jared is sulking over by _Space Invaders_ and Connor is counting his tickets, on the ground, by the air hockey table, jacket wrapped around his waist. He looks up and smiles, when he sees it’s Evan.

“I see you won big.” Evan notes, and offers Connor a hand. Connor takes it and Evan helps him onto his feet. Connor nods, stooping to pick up his messenger bag, stringing it over one shoulder.

“Kleinman was cocky.” Connor replies. “I was better.”

Evan lets out a small laugh. “Wanna buy something with those tickets?”

Connor shakes his head, putting them in his bag. There can’t be more than fifty. Still, that’s a pretty good haul for one afternoon. “Nah, I’ll save ‘em for a rainy day.”

Evan nods. “My dad used to say that. Of course, he always played the pinball machine.” He frowns at the memories, watching his dad play the ancient Wild Wild West pinball machine when he was small. “Think I got my skill for games like this from him.”

“Oh yeah?” Connor casts a glance to the table beside them. “And how good are you at air hockey?”

“Fair.” Evan replies, with a shrug. “Is this you issuing a challenge?”

Connor shrugs, a little more casually than Evan, and says, “Only if you take it as a challenge.”

“Oh, you’re on.” Evan laughs, and Connor drops his bag, going to the other end of the table.

Evan notes Connor’s shocked look when Evan beats him. He still seems to be a little in shock when the game ends. Evan presses the ten tickets he won into Connor’s chest as he passes.

“See you around.” He says, and then hides in the laser tag maze for the next twenty minutes, pretending to mop, until Jared tells him Connor’s gone.

  
**(3/16/17, 3:16 pm)**

~

 **{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@Hansen_Arcade_ has a lot of handy hiding places for when you're trying to avoid the hot guy you flayed at air hockey! **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** @ _CronchKleinman_ speaking from experience? **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@ConnorMurphy_ you could say that. **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@CronchKleinman_ i’m pretty sure i beat you **}  
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{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** _retweeted @CronchKleinman’s post: “you could say…”_ that's ominous af. **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** @ _ConnorMurphy @ZZZMurphy_ COME VISIT @ _Hansen_Arcade_! **}  
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{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** _retweeted @CronchKleinman’s post: “COME VISIT…”_ I used to work there, dude **}  
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{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** _retweeted @CronchKleinman’s post: “COME VISIT…”_ Jared, please stop this. We will block you. **}**

**(3/16/17, 4:27 pm)**

~

“So,” Zoe says, drawling a little from the numbness of her mouth. She's drinking a blue slushie. Technically she's drinking her _second_ blue slushie. “My brother came in here, the other day?”

Evan snorts, leaning against the side of the car simulator. “Yeah he did. I whooped his ass at air hockey.” He tries not to sound too cocky.

“Seriously?” She changes gears and takes a quick slurp of her slushie. Her tongue is blue. “That's surprising. He's usually pretty adept at games like that.”

“I hear that. He was very good - I was just better.”

“He thinks you're hot, you know.”

“W-what?” Evan splutters.

She shrugs, as if that's an answer, twisting the wheel, eyes fixed on the screen. “Connor’s weirdly into competitiveness.” Zoe tells him, matter-of-factly, and also like she'd rather not be talking about this.

“In that case, I feel like he'd be more interested in Jared.” Evan notes, almost uncomfortably. “No one’s more competitive than him.”

“I guess.” Zoe murmurs, and leans off her seat a little to press down on the accelerator. “Whatever. Whatcha gonna do with the money?”

“Mom’s already getting the pinball machine repaired.” He says, and Zoe cheers, fists raised in the air as she comes first again. She grins at him, straw of her slushie clutched between her front teeth. “We’re expecting a new claw machine any day now, and we’re getting in a popcorn dispenser. Mom’s really excited.”

“I'm glad.” Zoe says, getting up and bumping their shoulders together.

“You didn't have to give us all that money.” Evan tells her.

“I felt bad.” She insists, waving a hand. “Plus, half of it wasn't even mine.”

“What?” He furrows his eyebrows at her and she giggles.

“Connor pitched in. Felt kinda bad, too, even though he had nothing to do with it.” Zoe explains, and her tone suggests that it's the most obvious thing in the world. “I think he only did it cause he thought you were cute. He only transferred the money after delivering the cheque. Dad thought he was being super responsible.”

“Huh.” Evan murmurs, and smiles a little.

“Are you blushing?” She peers at him and then laughs. “Oh my god, you are! You think he's hot!”

“No!” Evan lowers his voice, aware of the eyes on them. “Well, maybe a little. But, mostly sweet.”

“Okay, sure.” Zoe says, taking a long sip of slushie. She pauses, for a moment, hand on her forehead and the hand holding her slushie against his arm. “Fuck, brain freeze. If there's anything else my family or I can help with, please let me know.”

Evan purses his lips, following her through the flashing arcade games. “We really wanna buy out the dumb coffee shop next door, knock out the wall, and put in a bumper car course. Reckon you could help?” He's only half-joking. Heidi’s been talking about it pretty much since her dad died and she took ownership.

“Maybe for a birthday present.” Zoe allows, absentmindedly. She frowns, turning in a slow circle, eyes searching. “Did you move the _Whack-A-Mole,_ again?”

“You know I'm indecisive.” Evan sighs, and points over by the air hockey table. “It's there.”

Zoe speed walks over, placing her slushie a safe distance away from her converse, on the floor. “Would you date my brother?” She asks, inserting a few coins and picking up the mallet as the game powers up.

“I don't know your brother.” Evan points out, leaning on the wall by the machine, as Zoe begins hitting moles.

“Fair, but like, given the chance, would you go out on a date with him?” Zoe says, looking up, briefly.

Evan thinks it over. Would he want to date Connor? “I'm not answering that question.” He settles on.

Zoe shrugs, and swears as she misses a mole. “Your loss.” She replies.

Evan rolls his eyes and focuses on something over her shoulder. “Oh, _shit,_ some kid’s kicking the claw machine, excuse me. Enjoy your _Whack-A-Mole.”_

“I will, thanks very much.” Zoe calls out to him, as Evan goes sprinting towards the claw machine.

**(3/18/17, 10:31 pm)**

~

 **{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** We are currently looking for after school workers - please DM us if you are available! **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _retweeted @Hansen_Arcade's post: "We are currently..."_ wE aRe CuRrEnTlY lOoKiNg FoR aFtEr ScHoOl WoRkErS - pLeAsE dM uS iF yOu ArE aVaIlAbLe! _pic.twitter.com/oBSN5Peg_ **}  
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{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** jared, please **}**

**(3/20/17, 10:17 am)**

~

Evan’s been trying to avoid Connor around the arcade, all afternoon (he can't stop thinking about what Zoe said). He's also been trying to sneak subtle looks at him, all afternoon. Needless to say, he's an absolute mess. His mom shoots him curious looks every time he trips on the edge of a machine.

And, he's honestly so thankful for his mother, because he almost has to serve Connor, at the counter, but narrowly escapes such a fate when Heidi butts in.

“Hey, hon, how can I help you?” She asks, with a smile. The alarm clock on Heidi’s phone goes off, alerting them that it will only be a few minutes, at most, before the loud fourteen year-olds who played laser tag every Wednesday arrive. She and Evan share a look before she turns back to Connor.

“How much for a game of laser tag?” He asks her, and casts a glance over her shoulder which Evan catches. They both go kind of pink, if the heat in Evan’s cheeks is anything to go by.

“Right now?” Heidi asks, and glances at Evan. She smirks at him, as if reading his mind. A second later, the door opens and the large group of fourteen year-olds from the middle school down the road come running in. “You want to play with them?”

Connor has a thoughtful look on his face. “Yeah.” He responds. “I’m gonna smash those brats.”

Heidi snorts. “Be my guest, might knock ‘em off their high horses.” She types something into the register. “Four-fifty.”

Evan frowns. That’s less than usual. “Thanks, Mrs. Hansen.” Connor says, smiling, and she ducks under the counter. He hands her the money and Heidi gestures for him to follow her to the entrance of the maze.

“Please, call me Heidi.” She says as they walk. It's a strange image, that's for sure. Connor’s long strides compared to his mother’s quick steps that somehow keep pace with each other.

Evan watches from afar, between transactions, and ticket collections, as Heidi does the quick rundown, collects the money from the boys (watches Connor’s expression turn confused as Heidi tells the boys, _“Five dollars_ ,” and try to understand why she'd lower the price for him).

He feels his elbow scrunch into something on the counter and looks down at the little post-it note there. _Boyfriend Discount_ , reads Heidi’s handwriting, and Evan scowls. Jared totally snitched.

“Could you please shut up?” Yells a loud voice, and, even at the other end of the arcade, Evan jumps, in surprise.

Silence follows.

Evan looks to the laser tag maze entrance and Connor is berating the boys while Heidi stands there with a pleasantly surprised look on her face.

They soon all file in, quietly to Evan’s amazement, to the maze and Heidi practically runs back to the counter.

“That boy is my favourite person in this whole world, right now.” She states, ducking under the counter.

“Who?” Evan asks, absently, “Connor?”

“Yes! He shut those brats up. Gave them a quick lecture about respect. Very fast, very scary.” Heidi crows, looking delighted as she shifts to the register to distribute the money. “They all gave him those big eyes that say ‘be my mentor’ and they fought to be on the same team as him.”

“So, I'm guessing it went well?” Evan says, with a smile.

“Better than well! It went great!” She slams the register closed and bounces in the backs of her heels as she turns around. Evan hasn't seen her this energetic in ages. The extra time at the arcade is definitely getting to her, he can tell. “It's like going on vacation! They just shut up!”

“You like him.” Evan notes, interested.

“I do.” She agrees.

“Mom?”

“Yeah?”

Evan picks up the crumpled post-it note, frown falling into place on his features, “What does ‘Boyfriend Discount’ mean?”

“Oh, shit.” Heidi swears.

“Mom?” Evan repeats, peering at her as she stares at the floor.

She sighs, “Fuck, look, I wasn't supposed to say, but Jared told me about you and Connor.”

Evan squints. “About me...and Connor…” He says.

“About how you’re...dating. You know?” She looks up and meets his eyes and grimaces. Heidi squeezes his shoulders, looking guilty. “Gosh, I’m sorry, Ev, that's a total invasion of your privacy-”

“Mom, Connor and I aren't dating.” Evan interrupts.

“You're not?” She looks a bit shocked, and Evan lets out a small laugh.

“Jared lied.” Evan says, and watches the worry melt from her features and a tired, vaguely annoyed look take its place. “I've only talked to Connor a few times, and those few times are probably all within a week of each other, besides ice breaker games in Kindergarten.”

“One of these days I'm gonna whoop that boys ass.” She murmurs, face in her hands.

“He has it coming.” Evan says, matter-of-factly, and hugs her a little.

“I still like him.” Heidi says, muffled, in the shoulder of his t-shirt.

“Jared?” He asks, pulling away

“Well, I meant Connor, but also Jared.”

“Fair.” Evan says, and ducks under the counter to do a round of the rapidly filling arcade.

**(3/22/17, 3:40 pm)**

~

 **{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** @ _AlanBeck_ beat her high score on PAC man! Congratulations! **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@Hansen_Arcade @AlanBeck_ what was her high score and what is the new one? I need to know **}  
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{Becky w/ Good Hair @AlanBeck** _@ConnorMurphy @Hansen_Arcade_ 3,020,595 was my initial high score, 3,130,415 is my new high score **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _retweeted @AlanBeck's post: "3,020,595 was_..." _@Hansen_Arcade @AlanBeck_ what. the. fuck. **}**

**(3/23/17, 5:35 pm)**

~

“You snitched on me.” Jared’s voice is deadpan.

“You deserved it.” Evan replies in a bored tone. He's counting the tickets from the broken boat game. It was shitty, anyway, and had been there since forever.

“I did not deserve to get swatted with a broom the minute I walked in this place.” Jared retorts. “Your mother grabbed me by the ear. What is this? 1789?”

Evan sighs and arches his eyebrows at his friend. “Jared, listen, you can't complain about getting caught when what you did was wrong.”

“Yeah, but you snitched.” Jared accuses. “And that was also wrong. You know what happens to snitches?”

“They get stitches?” He sighs.

“Exactly.”

“Jared, this isn't elementary school.”

“I know.”

“You can't even throw a punch.”

“I know.”

“When I was a kid, I used to think they meant stitches as in when you laugh too hard.” Says a sudden voice and both boys jump. The pile of tickets Evan had been accumulating, neatly, falls onto the ground, in disarray. Evan hardly registers who the voice belongs to in his dismay. "I was sadly mistaken."

“Crap.” Evan sighs and stoops to clean it up.

“Nice going, Murphy.” Jared chortles, no doubt genuinely amused. “You, and Acorn over there have something in common about entrances.”

“Fuck, sorry.” Says Connor. Evan freezes. _Oh shit,_ he thinks _, Connor._ The Connor he's been avoiding, the Connor he might have a tiny crush on, the Connor his mom wanted to speak with.

Someone ducks under the counter and joins him on the floor, gathering up the tickets, in loops, with practiced ease and long fingers. That person is Connor.

Evan looks up and meets Connor’s blue eyes, that seem to smile just as softly as his mouth. Heat rushes to his cheeks. “I-i-it’s fine.” He stutters, dragging a huge amount if the tickets to his chest. “You don't have to do that.”

“I want to.” Connor replies, and helps Evan gather up the tickets.

Jared is gone. Probably off to play _Dance Dance Revolution_ by himself. He's scarily good at it, unless he's versing a kid and deliberately messes up to give them the tickets.

“You know, I actually came round for a rematch on air hockey, but you look pretty busy.” Connor admits, when the tickets are just a mess that's been moved to the counter. Shit, his mother is going to kill him.

“Friday’s and Saturday’s are our busiest days, if you can believe it.” Evan says, conversationally, like he doesn't dread those days, because the stress of cleaning, and closing up, and getting home on time weighs on him through the entire week.

“I can.” Connor says, and smiles. His jacket is wrapped around his waist, again. His hair is half tied up. It looks nice like that, Evan notes, but he thinks he's prefers it all down. “That's okay. Plenty of other games to play, here.”

“Yeah.” _Now is as good a time as any,_ Evan thinks to himself, and plants one hand on the counter. “Hang on. Um, do you have a job?”

Connor frowns a little. “As a matter of fact, I am newly unemployed.”

Evan nods. “The thing is, ever since your sister got fired, it's actually been pretty hard around here, and it's surprisingly difficult to find people for the job, and my mom had been thinking for a while of extending the hours on Friday’s and Saturday’s, because there'd be someone around to run the arcade, but then Zoe had to leave.” He doesn't know why he has to justify it, or why he talks like he needs to get it all out before Connor can get a word in, because Connor makes no move to interrupt. “And, you see, my mom thinks you're great, ever since Wednesday when you shut those kids up - look, the point is my mom wants to offer you a job here. I'll shut up, now.”

“You wanna employ me?” Connor inquires with a shocked look, and the inkling of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

“Uh-huh.” Evan nods.

“That's…” he blinks rapidly and runs a hand through his hair. “I'd love to.”

Evan breaks out in a smile. “I have to go find my mom, and then there's papers you need to sign and stuff, but that's so great, thank you, you don't know how much this means-”

“Evan.”

Are his hands sweaty? Oh, shit, they are, he should wipe them on his pants. “Right, right, shut up, okay-”

“Not actually what I meant. I was gonna say we should go find your mom.” Connor jerks his thumb over his shoulder, in the general direction of the rest of the arcade.

Evan nods, trying to hide the embarrassed flush that spreads across his cheeks. “Yeah, that too.” He agrees, and follows Connor away from the counter.

**(3/24/17, 6:16 pm)**

~

 **{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** PSA: please do not stick your hand in the claw machine outlet - alert a staff member to help you **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@Hansen_Arcade_ at me next time **}  
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{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade ** PSA: Jared, please do not stick your hand in the claw machine outlet - alert a staff member to help you **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _pic.twitter.com/jKHA4Cmo_ **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@ConnorMurphy_ how is it that you managed to get a picture of me with my hand stuck in the claw machine outlet? **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@CronchKleinman_ fuck you, that's how}

**(3/26/17, 7:14 pm)**


	2. thank you for not laughing - well, you laughed a little bit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Right,” Connor agrees, “buy her flowers. Ask her out. Easy as pie."
> 
> “Easy for you to say,” Alana says, and the machine plays the death jingle, signifying that Alana’s lost the game. She turns to them, arms crossed over her chest. “Neither of you have ever asked out a girl in your life."
> 
> “And I'm unlikely to, Beck, my dear,” Connor says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from 'Changing My Major' from Fun Home
> 
> I'm so sorry it took me this long to put out a second chapter. Turns out I'm terrible at keeping up with shit irl and with stuff on here, at the same time.
> 
> Please accept my deepest apologies accompanied with, as I am told, an awesome chapter. Hope you enjoy!

**{** **TICJK @CronchKleinman** BREAKING NEWS! _@Hansen_Arcade_ HIRED ACTUAL FUCKING VAMPIRE, _@ConnorMurphy_ **}  
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 **{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** this is cyber bullying and i’m reporting you **}  
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 **{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@ConnorMurphy_ YOU DIDNT DENY IT **}  
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 **{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** no comment **}  
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 **{TICJK @CronchKleinman** hghfegehdjasjd #confIRMED **}**

**(3/27/17, 3:45 pm)**

~

It's been two weeks since they hired Connor, and Evan doesn't think a single moment of regret has filtered into either his or his mother's life.

Connor just seems grateful that he doesn't have to be home all the time, now, even if Zoe starts turning up a lot more.

Of course, there are downsides to working with the guy who you sometimes daydream about kissing, and Evan knows a lot about that. At this point, Evan’s used to all of them.

He gets caught staring. A lot. Enough that Connor seems to be a little worried.

Connor asks about it, when he goes on his lunch break, one Sunday. “Is there, like, permanently, something bad on my face?” He'd inquired.

Jared snickered from the candy claw machine, trying to pick up a KitKat. “Yeah, your face.” Connor elbowed him in the ribs, but seemed to forget that he asked Evan anything, in the first place, and walked out.

The dangers of working in an arcade with a 3D game and candy is that kids puke, so there's always the threat of kids puking on the carpet, on a game, or on him. And that happens often enough that he thinks Connor’s seen Evan covered in vomit a lot more than he's seen him, clean.

So, that's sad.

The biggest downside is that they work alongside his mother. So even if Evan wanted to make a move, even if he was remotely grave enough to make a move, his mother will always be there to cockblock him with a mop or a roll of tickets.

(There is, of course, all of the times that Evan’s had to fix an Out Of Order game, out in the back room, and Connor’s stayed with him because he hates the idea of Evan leaving the arcade, alone. And Evan’s laid on his back, or crouched behind the machine, and tries to focus on the task at hand, while blushing and trying to keep his heart from coming to life and bursting out of his chest to chase Connor down, á la _In A Heartbeat.)_

Evan’s getting used to this.

“I think the scoreboard’s broken,” the kid in the muscle top tells him. He came over and got Evan from the counter, and now he's trying to demonstrate the broken scoreboard at the slam dunk simulator.

“How so?” Evan asks, not really paying attention, since a toddler has begged Jared to play the sharpshooter game with her, and since she can't see the screen from where she stands, Connor’s got her up on his shoulders.

And that's just too fucking adorable.

The muscle top kid rolls his eyes and takes the mini basket ball from Evan’s hands, tossing it at the hoop. It goes through and the game makes a dinging sound, but the scoreboard doesn't change.

“Damn,” Evan mutters, “look, buddy, I'll have a look at it, but this one’s a relic, so it might be beyond saving.”

The kid grimaces, but nods to him, politely.

“I'll grab you a refund,” Evan says, and hurries over to the counter.

He tries not to stare too long or too hard at Connor, supporting the little girl, while she fires at Jared’s character, on the screen.

Muscle top kid seems to notice, anyway. “Staring is rude,” he informs Evan, taking the money, and skipping away.

Evan sighs, leaning on _Prize-Tetris._

He's gonna die.

**(4/8/17, 10:32 pm)**

~

 **{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** i just watched _@CronchKleinman_ tip an entire slushie onto his face because _@ConnorMurphy_ bet him ten dollars he wouldn't 1/3 **}**  
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**{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** _@CronchKleinman_ just challenged _@ConnorMurphy_ to ten games of air hockey 2/3 **}**  
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**{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** more on this story as it develops 3/3 **}**

**(4/10/17, 4:25 pm)**

~

Alana makes noises like she's a _Mortal Kombat_ character, come to life. Especially when she's really focused on arcade games. Especially on slow days, like Thursday afternoons, when she's allowed to yell at the old arcade games, because nobody is fucking there on Thursday afternoons.

“Do you know Zoe Murphy?” She asks, and grunts as her character jumps over a barrel.

Evan frowns. “It's like either nobody noticed or everyone collectively forgot that she worked here for a full six months,” he comments.

“Right,” it's the tone she uses when she doesn't want to be rude but isn't actually focusing on the conversation.

“Yeah, I know Zoe Murphy,” Evan sighs, deciding to humour her. “What about her?”

“She's really pretty,” Alana says, and from the erratic flick of the joystick in her hand and the way her tongue pokes out from between her teeth, this isn't just a casual conversation to her. From all those things, she's distracted. By a person who isn't even there.

“Yes,” Evan agrees, cautiously.

Alana reaches the top of the scaffolding, on the game, and breathes out a sigh of relief, turning to him as the machine beeps her victory. “D’you think she'd go out with me?” She asks him.

Evan gives her a thoughtful look. “Are you guys friends?” He responds, pulling a few tickets off the roll in his hands for her. The next level starts and Alana’s attention returns to the screen.

“Sorta. Kinda. I think,” she looks a little strained, a little conflicted. “Not acquaintances, but…”

“Just be upfront, I think. Try to be out there,” he leans heavily on the side of the machine, and sighs, a little, “I think she likes spontaneity. She seems like the type of person to like spontaneity."

“Okay. Right,” Alana nods and grunts like she herself just jumped over a barrel, coming at her, at high speed, “I can be spontaneous."

“You always are,” he says.

Alana moves onto the next level, taking a quick handful of M&M’s that she won from _Prize-Tetris,_ and dumping it in her mouth. Evan watches her intently, and hands Alana five tickets every time she passes a level. The pocket on her skirt begins to bulge.

Heidi wanders over, purse slung over her shoulder. She kisses Evan on the head, quickly, and then ruffles his hair. “I'm about to go on my break. Thought I'd let you know."

“Okay. Bye, mom,” Evan waves her away as she leaves the arcade, door bell clanging as the door shuts behind her.

Alana whoops her victory, once again, and Evan smiles, tiredly, at her, giving her another five tickets. She hums as she places them in her pocket. “What about you?” She asks.

“Me?” Evan says, giving the arcade a cursory look. Connor’s playing _Temple Run_ on his phone, at the counter.

“Yeah. Tell me about you,” Alana says, and jerks her elbow as she jerks the joystick. “Any particular guys or gals who've caught your eye?”

“In this town?” Evan licks his lips, and exhales, heavily. “Unlikely.”

“Really?” She asks, incredulously. “The same town as Zoe Murphy and you say ‘unlikely’?”

“I'm not saying she isn't pretty, I'm just saying I'm not attracted to her. I think…” Evan trails off.

“You think?” Alana echoes.

“I think I might like her brother-”

“What's happening?” Evan yelps in surprise, wondering how long Connor’s been there. How much he heard.

He calms himself and turns to face Connor with a smile. “Just talking about Alana’s crush.” Evan replies.

Connor grimaces, and looks over Evan’s shoulder at Alana. “What'd I tell you? Buy her flowers. Girls love flowers,” he makes a face. “Don't they?”

Evan realises that Connor’s addressing him, and hurries to say, “I think so."

“Right,” Connor agrees, “buy her flowers. Ask her out. Easy as pie."

“Easy for you to say,” Alana says, and the machine plays the death jingle, signifying that Alana’s lost the game. She turns to them, arms crossed over her chest. “Neither of you have ever asked out a girl in your life."

“And I'm unlikely to, Beck, my dear,” Connor says, and then nods to Evan. “Alright, I'm gonna check the maze for puke and if it's clear, I'm gonna grab my sandwich."

“Okay,” Evan replies, and watches him walk away, across the mostly-empty arcade.

“So,” Alana begins, in a smug tone of voice.

“Don't,” Evan groans. She's smiling, when he faces her again, handing her her winning tickets.

“The Murphy’s, huh?” She continues, nonchalantly, as they proceed over to _Galaga._ She likes to keep things fresh, and not play the same games over and over again.

“They're both unfairly attractive,” he sighs in agreement, as she settles in front of the new machine, inserting the required fee.

“Mm. It's okay,” Alana pats his shoulder as the game powers up. “You can pine with me."

“Thanks, Alana,” he laughs, and watches Connor walk out of the maze with a scowl.

**(4/13/17, 4:58 pm)**

~

 **{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** my mom: i don't want you going to school, high, Connor me: then why is it called “high school”? **}**  
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**{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** _retweeted @ConnorMurphy’s post: “my mom: i don't…”_ you're too much of a pussy to actually say that to mom. you're too much of a pussy to even look at a marijuana **}**  
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**{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@ZZZMurphy_ stop exposing me, you meme-loving fuck **}**  
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**{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** i can't decide between “breaking news - i love memes” and “this just in - i fuck memes” **}**  
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**{Meme @AlanBeck** _@ZZZMurphy_ you called? **}**  
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**{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** omg **}**  
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**{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@AlanBeck_ I was about to make that joke, how dare you **}**  
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**{Evan @TreeBoiii** _@ConnorMurphy_ don't say you do drugs on a public forum - future employers could see that. **}**  
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**{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@TreeBoiii_ is the only one who cares for my well being in this shithole of a hellsite 1/2 **}**  
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**{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** i’m deleting this whole thread - take screenshots while you can 2/2 **}**

**(4/14/17, 8:19 am)**

~

Jared’s sitting on the counter and Connor is glaring at him. Jared hasn't noticed, or it at least seems that way. The only reason that Evan’s noticed is because he's staring at Connor, again.

Jared and Heidi are staring at the TV on the wall above the sharpshooter game. They're watching a rerun of _Friends_. Evan can't remember the name. Maybe _The One with the Blackout?_ He can't remember, and it's not his fault - all the episodes are just named after what happens in them anyway.

Evan is distracted. He can tell by the rambling. He even rambles in his thoughts when he gets distracted. He knows because just earlier, he got so caught up in looking at Connor, in the rambling of his thoughts, he missed not one, not two, but five kids coming up to him to ask him to help them collect their prizes, all because Connor was bent over the bar of Dance Dance revolution, directly in front of the desk.

“You're getting pizza sauce on the counter I just wiped up, you smarmy bastard,” Connor eventually pipes up.

Jared sniggers at him, in return. “Who the fuck says _‘smarmy’?_ What are you, a thousand?”

Heidi glances back at them and frowns. “Jared, either be a little bit more careful about eating your food, or get off the counter. Either way, stop pissing off the employee of the month.”

“I'm employee of the month?” Connor perks up at this information, and Evan can't even find it in himself to be a little possessive of the title, not when Connor's grinning like that. And Evan must be going red, right to the ears, beet red.

“Usually it's Evan, but after the _Whack-A-Mole_ tournament incident-” they all, collectively, shudder, “you kinda have a gold star.”

“It's fine, Mrs H. I told you, it's nothing I haven't dealt with before.” Connor passes it off like it was nothing, but Evan knows it was just short of hell on earth that Connor prevented.

“I dunno, the entire bit where Matt was on fire?” Jared seems ready to laugh. Connor seems ready to punch him.

“He was on fire for all of fifteen seconds,” he snips, “and it never would have happened if your sister-”

Suddenly, Jared’s on the defence. “Hey, keep Ruth out of this; she didn't know what she was doing,” he says, tone warning.

“She's twelve, she should know better!” The joking tone in Connor’s voice begins to slip.

“What, and you didn't make dumb decisions when you were twelve?”

“Your _birth_ was a dumb decision-!” Connor says, pushing Jared a little. Evan’s kinda scared that this will actually descend into a fist fight. He's honestly not sure who he'd be cheering for if it did.

“Boys, shush!” Heidi flaps her hand at them. “Best part, coming up!”

They all fall silent, and then, on screen, Chandler says, _“You know, on second thought, gum would be perfection.”_

Heidi bursts into laughter and Evan laughs along with her. He focuses on the screen, feeling eyes on him.

“Alright, there's work to do.” Heidi switches the TV off, and they all groan, in unison. “Don't ‘awh’ me. Someone needs to mop, someone needs to wipe down grubby handles and joysticks, and someone needs to sort out the party rooms.”

Connor and Evan meet eyes across Jared’s lap, a silent battle going on for who gets to do the mopping. “Jared, since you so kindly stayed to eat an entire pizza, of the three I ordered, you get to clean up the party rooms,” Heidi continues, gathering up their plates.

“Heidi, I'd love to stay, but I can't.” Jared says, stuffing the last of the crust in his mouth and passing her his plate. “Put it on my tab,”

“Can't.” She says, smiling smugly at him. “I called your mother, let her know she can have you back once those rooms are pristine.”

“Heidi…” Jared whines, and Evan can't help but be reminded of the whiny little kids he deals with on a daily basis. He feels no remorse for Jared.

“I'll give you twenty dollars,” Heidi says, bluntly.

Jared just about runs for the cleaning supplies, more serious than Evan's ever seen him.

“There he goes,” Connor murmurs.

“Evan, hun, you're on music,” Heidi says as she starts stacking dishes, and takes them to the Employees Only kitchenette to clean.

“Dibs on mopping,” Evan calls, already sprinting for the supply closet.

“You smarmy _asshole,”_ Connor yells, running after him.

**(4/16/17, 3:21 am)**

~

 **{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@CronchKleinman_ your initials are JK **}**  
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**{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@ConnorMurphy_ that’s because my life is a fuxking joke **}**

**(4/16/17, 5:11 am)**

~

They're getting ready to close up, Wednesday nights are never truly productive days, unless it's holidays, when Zoe walks in, Slurpee in hand. And she's wearing a crop top. In the middle of _March._

It's no surprise that Connor practically runs to the back room and runs back with his jacket, throwing it over her shoulders and berating her about how much more prone to illness she is by wearing practically nothing out in the cold. Zoe just grins cheekily at him. Like it was all an elaborate plan for him to come over and talk to him. And it might well be, judging by the way she drags him over to the car simulator.

Evan goes over to fix the out of order plushy claw machine, nearby. He gets snippets of the conversation.

"What are you even _doing?"_ Zoe hisses.

"Biding my time." Connor responds.

She huffs, "You're being a chicken is what you're doing-"

The rest of Zoe's sentence is unintelligible, because of the car simulator music.

"That wasn't my fault." She says.

"Yeah, well, I don't really care." And Connor's tone clearly says that he does care. "I'll do it when I feel like it."

"That sounds so ominous-" Zoe giggles. Connor's obviously had enough.

"Can you just leave it alone, please?" He asks, but it sounds more like a demand.

"Fine." Zoe huffs, all humour gone. "But you gotta do something about it in the next week, or I'll do it for you."

"Deal. Now go home and out some clothes on." Zoe exits, quickly, Connor's jacket still thrown over her shoulders. Connor wanders over to the claw machine, and Evan peers at him.

"Is it weird to see your sister showing off for someone?" He asks.

"Huh?" Connor replies, glancing back out the window.

"She wasn't looking for you when she came in." He says, and jerks his head in Alana's direction. Who is gathering all her tickets hurriedly into her pockets and rushing out the door, after Zoe. Who meets her on the corner. And offers her her Slurpee

Connor stares. "When the fuck did _that_ happen?" He murmurs, sounding a little shocked. Evan can't help but laugh.

"See, I thought you knew," Evan says, and the claw finally unjams, reaching down and grabbing a Hello Kitty plushie, "considering you gave Alana dating advice for how to hit on your sister."

Connor laughs and leans against the machine. "I guess I'm a lot more oblivious than I thought." He says, and reaches into the dispenser to get the plushie.

Evan nods a little. "You have no idea." He gets up off the floor. "Just put that on the prize shelf. We'll work something out."

**(4/19/17, 11:22 pm)**

~

 **{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** Before our jukebox arrives, we are taking song requests, in the arcade - keep them kid friendly! **}**  
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**{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** _@CronchKleinman_ if you tweet us Never Gonna Give You Up one more time, we will report you. **}**  
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**{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@Hansen_Arcade_ has no respect for the classics **}**  
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**{TICJK @CronchKleinman** LMAO, THEY BLOCKED ME _pic.twitter.com/bBTH4Aot_ **}**

**(4/21/17, 6:54 pm)**

~

“So,” Connor says, conversationally, when Evan’s just packed up the vacuum cleaner. “How long have you been working here?”

“Legally? Two or three years,” Evan replies, leaning on the doorjamb. “Otherwise, since I was able to walk around by myself and speak in full sentences. My mom inherited this place before I was born, but only by a few weeks.”

“Really?” Connor tosses another scrunched up napkin in the bin. “That’s awesome.”

“You’d think,” Evan snorts, and gets onto his knees to help pick up the excess rubbish. “This place is like a home away from home, for me, I spend so much time, here.”

“Does that mean that you’re a master of all the games?” Connor inquires, holding a jelly baby up to the light. Evan plucks it out of his hand and tosses it into the rubbish.

“Nah. The only games I’m actually decent at are air hockey and...pinball,” he replies, picking up a discarded party hat. “Although, I am one of the only people who can tell you how to properly hip-check the candy claw machine so it’ll reboot, after giving you the first candy.”

Connor doesn't seem to process the candy claw machine comment, and for that Evan is thankful. Instead, he seems to ponder Evan’s earlier comment. “I don’t think I’ve seen any pinball machines around here,” he says.

“That’s ‘cause there’s only one. We used to have two; _Space Adventure_ and _Wild Wild West,”_ Evan slumps against the wall, playing with the elastic on the party hat. “My dad really liked the Wild Wild West one, because the peg got stuck a lot, so no one ever played it. When he left, my mom, she got me to help her haul it out into the alley and she smashed it to bits with the _Whack-A-Mole_ mallet.”

Connor lets out a short laugh and scoots over to where Evan’s sitting. He pulls his knees up to his chest as he leans against the wall.

“My mom was gonna be a lecturer. Actually, she was, when she met my dad. And then they got married. And dad got work somewhere else. And mom was so in love with him she thought she could live with the loss. They moved into town, and dad won a case so big that they were financially stable enough to not need her to work,” he sighs, shaking his head, as if this were a complete and utter tragedy, “financially stable enough to have a kid and still be labelled rich. And they’ve been unhappy in their marriage for a while now. I think once Zoe moves out, they'll divorce, but they never wanted to put that kind of strain on me and Zoe’s childhood. They're being rather considerate, if I'm honest.”

“That sucks,” Evan murmurs, letting the elastic twang as it hits the end of the party hat.

“Sounds like your dad never gave _your_ childhood much consideration,” Connor replies.

“I don't think he gave anything about it much consideration. He had to go to Colorado a lot, for work. Fell in love with a cocktail waitress, there,” Evan stands, shrugging, a little, “I guess, his work had been offering him a better salary if he was there full time. I guess he’d been staying for my mom. And then there was the waitress and the money, and I guess it seemed too good to be true.”

“Man, fuck him,” Connor says as Evan helps him back to his feet.

“Thanks? I think?” He tosses the party hat in the trash.

“Sure,” Connor scratches the back of his neck, “You say ‘I guess’ a lot.”

“I actually don't know that much about the whole situation,” Evan admits. “So, I’m guessing a lot of the time.”

Connor laughs.

**(4/23/17, 11:57 pm)**

~

 **{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@TreeBoiii @ConnorMurphy_ where tf are you? did we or did we not have a movie night tonight? **}**

**(4/24/17, 12:23 am)**

~

"Oh, God,” Connor says, wiping a napkin along the bottom of the table and throwing it in the trashcan next to him.

“What is it?” Evan asks, holding up his trash can.

Connor holds up another napkin covered in the remnants of hours old icing. “Some kid smeared chocolate icing on the bottom of the table," he replies.

"What the fuck?" Evan laughs, and shakes his head, holding the garbage can out for Connor to dispose the napkins in.

"God, kids can be dicks, sometimes," Connor sighs.

Evan bites his lip, as Connor packs the table up flat. "I don't think they mean to be," he says in what he hopes to be a reasoning tone.

"No, neither do I.” Connor admits, and the table clatters as he leans it against the far wall. “Doesn't change that they're dicks."

"Don't like 'em much?" Evan inquires, beginning to stack the chairs beside the folded up table.

"Nah. Too loud, in my opinion. And I've never planned on any of my own.” His tone is pained, and that's all Evan can really focus on. “Wouldn't want them to turn out as fucked up as me."

That strikes a nerve. Something behind his ribs, up against his lungs. It makes Evan feel short of breath. He turns. Connor’s on a chair, pulling down the _“Happy Birthday”_ banner. "You're not fucked up." Evan responds.

"You don't know me, Ev.” Connor sighs, glancing over his shoulder, for a second, at Evan, before turning back to the banner. “Not that well. I've been in therapy since I was thirteen. I have depression, and I'm on a cocktail of medications that sometimes don't work.”

He nearly topples off the chair and Evan barely steadies him. Connor gives him a grateful look, getting down, letting the banner dangle from the pin on the other end. Evan steps back, realising how close they're standing.

“And if worse came to worse and I did end up with a kid,” Connor continues, quieter, more somber, “I know I'd try to give them the help I got, but it's hard enough with just myself to worry about, as it is."

"Okay. I get that. I've always liked kids. I mean, sure. Loud, annoying.” Evan shrugs, but Connor doesn't see it, moving the chair to finish getting the banner down. “But, also, kids."

"Fit well into your white picket fence dreams?" Connor inquires, in an airy tone that he didn't have a few moments ago. It sounds fake, and by the wince that follows his statement, Connor thinks so too.

"Well, uh. I don't know.” Evan rubs the back of his neck. “I'm, um, bisexual. I think.”

“Cool.” Connor pulls the banner completely down. "Why, you 'think'?"

"It's not like I've tried kissing a girl and then a boy, just to see if I'm right.” He elaborates, and Connor crumples up the banner, tossing it in the garbage bin. “And I have social anxiety. Pretty sure that'd stop me."

"That right?" He asks it in that matter-of-factly tone, usually reserved for Alana, when Evan’s being dumb.

"Yeah. I mean, I _have_ kissed a girl, and I _liked_ it-”

“Thanks, Katy Perry.” Connor laughs, stacking the final chair. The room looks a little bare with everything up against the wall. Years of this routine, and only now does Evan realise how impersonal it is (it's supposed to be, but it's only just registered).

“-but guys are also pretty great looking." Evan finishes. Connor’s face betrays nothing. He seems to be thinking over something.

"You've never kissed a guy?" Connor approaches Evan slowly, like he's trying not to startle him.

"Nope." Evan finds it hard to focus on Connor’s face, he's so close. "Connor?" He asks.

"Can I?" Connor replies, one hand coming up to tip Evan’s face up. Their noses touch.

"You want to…” Evan can see every detail of Connor’s face. His breathing turns shallow. Evan registers what he means. “Yes."

So, Connor kisses him. And Evan kisses him back.

He reaches up and grabs the front of Connor’s shirt, balling it in his fists and dragging Connor closer. Connor laughs into his mouth, and Evan refuses to focus on it, because Connor’s hand moves to the back of his neck and his other hand slips down to the curve of Evan’s waist and Evan’s actually never been this close to somebody before. To _anybody._

And then Connor pulls away.

“There.” Connor whispers, and he sounds winded. There's something in his eyes that says it wasn't just a kiss, for him, but that might just be Evan’s rampaging imagination. He hasn't let go of Evan, just pulled back a little. “Now you've been kissed by a boy.”

Evan doesn't know what to say. The smiles on Connor’s lips shrinks, and he pulls fully away from Evan, across the room. Evan touches his fingers to his mouth, kind of in shock, and turns away, continuing to pack up.

Connor doesn't speak, either, and they finish up silently, apart from the radio.

And Connor walks him to the bus stop.

“Do you want to come over for dinner?” Evan blurts. Connor looks nice under the dim light of the streetlight. “I think tonight’s one of the few nights when mom’ll make something from scratch.”

Evan can't quite decipher the look on Connor’s face. He bites his lip and tucks a strand of hair behind his ear. “Wish I could, but I've got homework.” He says. There's a hitch in his voice. “I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah.” The bus pulls up, and Connor nods his goodbye, running off to his car.

**(4/24/17, 12:50 am)**

~

 **{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** the real, unanswered, question is; what does ticjk actually stand for **}  
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 **{Meme @AlanBeck** _@ConnorMurphy_ NO **}  
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 **{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** _@ConnorMurphy_ DELETE THAT RIGHT NOW, SPARE US **}  
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 **{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _retweeted @ConnorMurphy’s post: “the real, unanswered…”_ you called? **}  
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 **{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@AlanBeck @ZZZMurphy_ oh, fuck, what have i done, why didn't you warn me **}  
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 **{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@ConnorMurphy_ it stands for “The Insanely Cool Jared Kleinman”, a worthy title, that doesn't fit as my Twitter username. **}  
** **|**  
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 **{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** …….why was that such a big deal? **}  
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 **{Meme @AlanBeck** overinflation of his ego. **}  
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 **{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** i’m participating in a cleanse - you’re all blocked **}  
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 **{Evan @TreeBoiii** _@ConnorMurphy_ all? **}  
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 **{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** you're all, bar Evan, blocked **}**

**(4/24/17, 2:38 am)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I really hope you liked this. If you did, please leave a comment and/or kudos, and come hmu on Tumblr @nose-coffee
> 
> Big thanks to @HamiltonTrash for your help on this chapter. I swear I would've drowned, without your help in fleshing out my scenes. Please check out her works, if you haven't already (they're all complete AKA totally reliable).
> 
> Again, thank you! I'll see you whenever I finish chapter three!


	3. measure in love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You told me you suck at pretty much every game here.” He says.
> 
> Evan shakes his head, and sends the puck zig-zagging up the table. “I told you I suck at them all except for pinball and air hockey.” He replies, and grins. “You just don't remember all of that because you decided to kiss me.”
> 
> “Are you complaining?” Connor inquires with a raised eyebrow and a quirk at the corner of his mouth.
> 
> “Far from it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Seasons of Love" from Rent
> 
> Here it is, guys! Final chapter!

**{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@TreeBoiii_ why has your mother not unblocked me, yet? **}  
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{Evan @TreeBoii** _retweeted @CronchKleinman's post: "why has your mother..."_ because if we do, you’ll just keep tweeting us the link to "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _retweeted @TreeBoiii's post: "because if we do..." https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ_ **}  
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{Evan @TreeBoiii** _@CronchKleinman_ I'm not an idiot, don't make me fucking block you, believe that I will **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@CronchKleinman_ stop harassing the Hansen's - don't think broom swatting is solely reserved to my sister **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** i will risk a lifetime ban for the chance to actually rick-roll someone on this fucking planet **}**

**  
(5/5/17, 9:47 pm)**

~

  
It's been about two weeks since Connor kissed him in the party room, and they haven't spoken - apart from simple _‘hello’s_ and _‘can you hand me a new roll of tickets’_ and _‘oh, god, I think that kid just puked on Dance Dance Revolution’s_ \- since it happened.

Evan’s kinda sick to the stomach at the thought that maybe Connor doesn't want to talk to him, that maybe he regrets it.

He can't focus at work, at school, at home. He stumbles over his words more than usual (and, _damn,_ he thought he was getting better), he messes up when cleaning, he burns his toast. It all seems unremarkable, but he and Connor aren't speaking to each other.

Naturally, it all comes to a head in the first week of summer holidays, just after closing.

Naturally, it all comes to a head with chaos.

The slushie machine pretty much _explodes._

They'd had a few customers come up and complain that it hadn't been working, all day, and right after clean up, when Heidi's left them to deal with locking up and getting home, they're trying to see what's wrong with the the slushie machine.

Connor puts a cup below the dispenser, pulls the lever and waits.

Nothing comes out.

Connor swears, and kicks the side.

And the slushie machine breaks open and sprays them with melted slushie mixture.

Evan yelps as the blue liquid drenches him and fills his mouth, before he spits it out, onto the floor. He looks up at Connor, looking like a wet cat, his hair hanging wetly around his face.

“Oh, man,” Evan says, and Connor looks up at him, “I'm gonna smell like frozen Fanta for a week.”

Connor scoffs and flicks his arms, sending droplets of brown mixture flying. “At least you won't smell like Diet Coke.” They both laugh at this.

It's easier than it has been in weeks.

When they're laughter subsides, they're left standing in sticky puddles, staring at each other. Evan doesn't really know who steps into who, or why, but a moment later he's cupping Connor’s face in his hands and kissing melted Diet Coke slushie off of Connor’s lips.

“I don't even _like_ Fanta,” Connor gasps, between desperate kisses, and Evan presses his thumbs into Connor’s cheekbones.

“Shut _up,”_ Evan responds, and kisses him harder, Connor’s hands curling in the waist of his shirt.

Evan doesn't want to think too hard about this. If he thinks too hard about this, he’ll have to stop it, and make Connor talk it out, with him. So he just focuses on the fact that _Connor’s tongue is in his mouth,_ and goes from there.

**(5/6/17, 3:32 am)**

~

 **{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** PSA: the slushie machine is out of order, and will be repaired, but the popcorn machine has arrived! **}  
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{Meme @AlanBeck** _@Hansen_Arcade_ just got in a cinema brand popcorn machine! Great date spot! **}  
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{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** _@AlanBeck_ at me, next time **}  
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{Meme @AlanBeck** _@ZZZMurphy_ I fucking smashed you at laser tag and you choked on the popcorn because you were expecting it to be shit, how can there 1/2 **}  
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{Meme @AlanBeck** _@ZZZMurphy_ 2/2 more that you want from me? **}  
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{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** _@AlanBeck_ maybe I want a second date? **}  
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{Evan @TreeBoiii** omg **}**

**  
(5/6/17, 10:45 am)**

~

  
“Okay,” Jared says, collecting his mini basket ball from the newly repaired slam dunk simulator, “I have a lot of questions.”

Evan raises an eyebrow and Jared misses the hoop. Connor laughs. Jared’s mom forced him to take his siblings to the arcade, considering that they're all on break and she just wants to relax at home without constant nagging, which means that Jared is fucking around as well as babysitting.

Jared turns and frowns at them. “But the most important question is where the _fuck_ did you get a _hickey?”_ He points at Connor and Evan turns to look at him.

“Language.” Says Jared’s fourteen year-old brother, Levi, from over at _Prize-Tetris._

“Fuck off.” Jared calls back.

“I'm gonna tell mom you said that!” Levi threatens.

“No one likes a snitch, Levi.” Jared says, tossing the basketball at Levi’s head. Levi tosses it back at Jared, misses, and gets it through the hoop.

Connor’s holding his phone up to scan his neck with the camera. He looks shocked. “How did I fucking _miss_ that?” He murmurs. Evan’s gotta say, he's also a little shocked that Connor managed to completely miss the purple mark halfway down his neck.

“Who the fuck gave you a hickey?” Jared continues, and Evan fidgets with the hem of his shirt nervously, hoping Jared won't notice just how red he's going. (He honestly hadn't really been thinking when he'd been kissing Connor’s neck. Not really. Not at all. And Connor hadn't seemed to care, so it really didn't matter.)

(At least his hair kind of hides it. Connor’s still gonna have to steal concealer from Zoe. It's embarrassingly noticeable.)

Connor puts away his phone and crosses his arms over his chest. “Give me one good reason why I should tell you.” He replies.

“Sharing is caring?” Jared suggests. Even Evan knows that’s weak.

“I thought that rule was only reserved for food.” Comments a new voice. It’s Jared’s sixteen year-old sister, Verity, at the car simulator. She's leaning on the seat, as Ruth, the twelve year-old, and the culprit of the _Whack-A-Mole_ tournament fire event, twists the wheel and strains to hit the gas with her short legs.

“It is, but I can make an exception when it comes to Connor’s sex life, especially considering I thought it was nonexistent, when it was not.” Verity mock-gasps and covers Ruth’s ears. Jared doesn't seem to notice, he pokes Connor, accusingly, in the chest. “Now, _spill,_ goddammit.”

Evan has to give Connor credit for how he doesn't even flinch, doesn't even glance Evan’s way. “I have some stuff to do.” He says instead. Connor shuffles away and Evan tries not to go too red as he walks away. It could only get worse if Jared caught him staring at Connor’s ass.

“You wouldn't know who it was, would you?” Evan almost groans at how fast Jared rounds on him. He's obviously hellbent on finding out who gave Connor a hickey. Evan doesn't know if he'd be impressed or grossed out if he knew that someone was Evan. “Weren't you with him, last night?”

Evan shrugs. “For clean up.” He replies, leaning against the grating of the slam dunk simulator. Jared grabs the mini basketball and goes back to shooting. “And then he dropped me home.”

“Huh. That's weird.” Jared murmurs, missing again. “I thought you took the bus home.”

Evan nods. “It was raining last night.” More like they were both covered in slushie and Connor offered to take him to his house to clean up before he went home. Which obviously meant more making out. On Connor’s bed. With the door closed. After a shower, each. With their shirts off. Evan wasn't exactly complaining.

Jared is searching for the basketball. Evan leans on the game and looks around the arcade, tiredly. And then Connor catches his eye from the doorway of the back room. “Oh.” He can't help saying, as Connor disappears around the corner, out of sight.

“Oh?” Jared echoes, without looking up.

“I gotta go do- I gotta-” Evan can't think of an excuse, but Jared just snorts.

“Say no more.” He claps Evan on the shoulder, the game powering down and spitting out a small length of tickets. “Go and save the arcade.”

Evan rushes off. And Connor’s there, in the back room, and Evan has a full five minutes of Connor, and Connor kissing him, and Connor backing him against a wall, before Jared’s calling him to come look at Verity and Levi battling it out on the hardest level of _Dance Dance Revolution,_ because they're apparently just as competitive as him.

**(5/6/17, 4:12 pm)**

~

  
**{TICJK @CronchKleinman** every time you call your partner “daddy” Sigmund Freud grows a little stronger **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@CronchKleinman_ and how would you know that? **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@ConnorMurphy_ why don't you come over and find out, daddy ;) **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** LMAO HE BLOCKED ME **}  
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{Meme @AlanBeck** I don't need to read 'daddy' and 'Sigmund Freud' in one sentence. It's like a summoning spell. **}**

**(5/13/17, 1:59 am)**

~

  
Evan basically knows he's fucked when Connor decides it’s a good idea to run his hand across Evan’s lower back on his way past, unexpectedly, in the middle of a shift, and as he turns around to berate him, he catches Heidi’s eye.

She beckons him over to the counter.

Evan _knows_ he's fucked.

“Wanna tell me what's up?” She asks him, when he reaches the counter. Evan fiddles with the hem of his t-shirt.

“The roof?” He suggests.

Heidi gives him a look. The look says _seriously?_

“I mean between you and Mr Murphy, over there.” She elaborates, jerking her head in the direction of the far side of the arcade, and Evan leans on the counter, heavily, rubbing his eyes with his hand.

“Mom…” he trails off.

“You can't tell me there's nothing happening, there. I'm not _blind.”_ Heidi says. She hands him a stress ball and he closes his hand around it, squeezing tightly. This is how it's been for a while now. She knows he's struggling with the topic, but it's important to talk out.

Heidi beckons him to the other side of the counter, and he ducks under. She pulls him into her arms, hand stroking his hair. “You look at him like he hung the moon. He looks at you like...like I don't even _know_ what.” Evan can't even deny the way his heart skips a beat when she says it, and he kinda hopes she's telling the truth. It seems too good to be true, though. He gazes out over her shoulder, unseeing. “That's not even _counting_ all the times I've seen you two duck around corners and into the bathroom and the back room together, and come back looking ruffled. And all the casual touches. You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“If you already know, why do you need to ask?” Evan mumbles into her shoulder.

He chest shifts as she sighs, and Heidi pulls away a little, to look at him. “I'd rather you be honest with me.” She replies.

“Mom.” She cuts him off.

“Are you in love with him?” Her expression is dead serious.

“Mom!” Evan exclaims, frightening a middle schooler at _Prize-Tetris._

“What?” She pulls fully away, now, crossing her arms over her chest.

“It's _way_ too early to ask something like that!” Evan swaps the stress ball into his left hand. Squeezes until the tension in his knuckles dissipates. “We’ve _barely_...it hasn't been that long.”

“I know. But-” there's something sad in her eyes. Evan hates it. He can't look at her.

“No, I just-” he smushes the stress ball into the counter

 _“Evan.”_ And he looks up, on impulse. The sad something in her eyes is still there, but there's something hopeful in the upturn of her lips, too. “Just...the way you look at him…”

“Even if I was...it's not like I could tell him.” Evan says, and sits down in the rolly chair. Everything he's been holding back is coming to the front of his mind and spilling out of his mouth. “He'd probably think I was fucking with him.”

“You don't know that.” Heidi counters, crouching beside him.

“You don't get it.” Evan says, and watches her expression turn amused. She sits herself down, properly on the plastic IKEA step stool, and place her hands in her lap.

“Oh, yeah?” Heidi snorts. “It seems to me that you think I've never felt that way, before.”

“That's not true.” He scoffs. He watches Connor instruct a small group of ten year-olds on how to put on their vests at the entrance of the laser tag maze. Connor catches his eyes and winks.

“Oh really? You didn't see fit to tell me that you were kissing the employee of the month, in the first place, so, what am I supposed to think? That you probably think I'm too old to understand. Or, you think you just might be the first person to feel this way. That no one can understand, because you, Evan Hansen, have discovered love.” She frowns. “I know what it feels like. You don't get it right now, but I've been there. I thought I must be some kind of prodigy, because no one could've loved someone as much as I loved your father. I was young. I didn't understand anything. He pulled away, and I couldn't understand why my love suddenly wasn't enough, anymore.”

“I…” Evan doesn't think he's heard her speak this frankly about his father in years. Didn't think that he'd ever hear her speak of him without anger behind her tone, again. Evan thought speaking to his mother about Connor would be a lot more stressful.

“Look, honey, I'm not gonna tell you to run over to him right now and tell him how you feel, because even I know that'd just be a mess.” She bites her lip, and then places her hand, gently over his. “But I am saying that you should be honest with him about how you feel.”

“Are you sure?” Evan asks.

Heidi laughs, shortly. “I'm never sure about anything.” She stand up, kisses him on the head, and ducks under the counter.

Evan’s left in his own head, until a father of what looks like four comes over to ask if _Prize-Tetris_ is out of order.

**(5/21/17, 3:51 pm)**

~

 **{TICJK @CronchKleinman** your foot falling asleep is just the clown that lives under your bed grabbing your foot in another dimension **}  
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{Evan @TreeBoiii** _@CronchKleinman_ Do you get any sleep? **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _retweeted @TreeBoiii’s post: “Do you get any…”_ nah, too busy not making any sudden moves and alerting the clown that I'm aware of its presence. that could have disastrous outcomes. **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@TreeBoii_ i mean, imagine me against a clown. who would win? **}  
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{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** _retweeted @CronchKleinman’s post: “@TreeBoii i mean, imagine…”_ the clown. **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@ZZZMurphy_ ouch. **}**

**(5/25/17, 2:34 am)**

~

It's after hours. Heidi’s gone home to cook dinner. Evan’s trying to keep his title of reigning Air Hockey King.

Connor isn't having any of it.

“I don't understand,” he huffs, deflecting the puck, “how you're so good at this.”

“Practice?” Evan suggests.

Connor frowns at him, across the table. “You told me you suck at pretty much every game here.” He says.

Evan shakes his head, and sends the puck zig-zagging up the table. “I told you I suck at them all except for pinball and air hockey.” He replies, and grins. “You just don't remember all of that because you decided to kiss me.”

“Are you complaining?” Connor inquires with a raised eyebrow and a quirk at the corner of his mouth.

“Far from it.” Evan says, narrowing his eyes as Connor shoots the puck back at him. “In fact, if I remember correctly, my prize for winning is a kiss.”

Evan gets it in Connor’s goal. “Oh, fuck.” Connor mutters, reaching down to get it, and setting it back on the tabletop.

“One more point and the game is mine.” Evan reminds him.

“I hate you.” Connor says, beginning the round.

“You don't.” He responds, tone light.

“You've got me there.” Connor concedes, and Evan grins as he catches him off guard and gets his goal, again.

“And I win!” He crows, pumping his fists in the air. The table buzzes and ejects ten tickets.

“Nice shot.” Connor says, a mild scowl on his face as he rounds the table.

“You're a sore loser.” Evan comments.

He laughs, shortly, “You're not exactly a humble winner.”

“Why would I want to be humble?” Evan asks him. Connor kisses him softly, and that really takes Evan’s breath away.

Evan traces his thumbs up Connor’s jaw, still a little in shock, after as many weeks, that Connor would really want to kiss him.

The thing about kissing Connor, Evan notes - he's not selfish. He kisses Evan like they have all the time in the world, and as if he means to spend that time kissing Evan.

Evan, by comparison, is all take. Evan pushes him onto the table, on his back, and climbs over him, knees either side of his hips. When Connor laughs like he does then, it's because he thinks Evan is bold. Bolder than he could ever be. At least, that's what he tells him.

Connor yelps and Evan feels the table come on underneath them, air spraying up into his knees. He can only imagine it feels weirder for Connor.

“I actually don't know what I expected.” Evan falls off the table as Connor sits up, and he barely stops himself from hitting his head on _Space Invaders._

“Jared?” Connor says, voice raw.

And, indeed, there's Jared, standing beside the air hockey table, looking very unimpressed. Connor stares at him, looking conflicted.

Evan sits up, back against _Space Invaders._

It's Connor who breaks the silence. “What are you doing here?” He asks.

Jared puts his hands on his hips. “I could ask you the same question.”

“We’re cleaning up.” Evan pipes up.

 _“This_ is cleaning up?” Jared responds, raising an eyebrow and gesturing to the disheveled mess they both are.

“This is a _break.”_ Connor corrects and hops down off the air hockey table. “What are you doing here?”

“We had a movie night scheduled for tonight.” Evan freezes. “Remember? You guys were gonna come over after work and we were finally gonna watch _Coraline?”_

“Fuck.” Connor mutters and pushes his hair out of his face.

“You forgot.” Jared states, flatly, looking put out.

“Jared-” Evan begins to protest, standing up.

“So, _you've_ been the one covering Connor head to toe in hickies?” He interrupts. Evan and Connor share a look, and then Evan stares at his feet, feeling his face go red at the implication.

“Not head to toe…” he mumbles.

“Yeah.” Connor says.

“What the _fuck.”_ Jared mutters, and then Evan looks up and his expression clears with realisation. “Oh my god, you guys were together the first time you missed movie night! And the night the slushie machine exploded!”

Connor has an awkward look on his face. “Uh...yeah.”

“Oh my god. All that time?” Evan looks up at Connor who refuses to meet his eyes, and is staring at something over Jared’s shoulder. “That's how long it's been?”

“Actually,” Evan corrects, quietly, “since the slushie machine, but kinda on the first movie night.”

“Fuck.” Jared takes off his glasses and rubs at his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie. When he looks back up and replaces his glasses, Evan recognises the distressed look on his face. “Okay. Okay. Um, guys? I'm gonna be real selfish here.”

“How is that different from usual?” Connor mutters.

Connor didn't seem to get the memo. Evan elbows him in the ribs. _“Connor.”_

“Sorry.” He looks it. Evan really appreciates that. (It would be so easy for him to not care, but he seems to care about Evan, and maybe about Jared, too.)

“That actually…” Jared doesn't look at them. Just leans on _Whack-A-Mole_ and stares at the ugly carpet. “That really hurts my feelings, I guess?” Connor and Evan share a look, and when they look back at Jared he's staring at them, maybe a little frantically. “Like, I understand that you guys are kinda working on a relationship here, and you deserve your privacy, but could you not leave me behind? I get that I'm annoying, and that you prefer each other's company over mine, but…”

Surprising everyone, including himself (if the look in his eyes is anything to go by), Connor steps forward and tugs Jared into a hug. “We’re sorry, Jared.” He says, and Jared relaxes into the hug. “It's not that we meant to exclude you, or forget about plans. We’ll try to do better.”

There's a long silence as Connor pulls away and Evan hugs Jared as well. “Do or do not.” Jared says, after Evan pulls away, a smile beginning on his face, again. “There's no try. Now, who wants to verse me on air hockey? I payed the fee.”

It's not what Evan expected from the evening (he won't detail what he _was_ expecting) but he is far from complaining.

**(5/31/17, 12:27 am)**

~

 **{TICJK @CronchKleinman** tfw you don't realise you're in a bad situation until you're balls deep in it **}  
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{Meme @AlanBeck** _@CronchKleinman_ I need,,,,so much context **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _retweeted @AlanBeck’s post: “I need,,,,so…”_ you're not gonna get it **}**

**(6/2/17, 10:05 am)**

~

“You've gotta tell her.” Evan murmurs, tapping his fingers against the glass of the jammed claw machine.

“Why?” Connor groans, arm all the way up the prize outlet. The little crying boy nearby makes a sniffling sound and Jared makes a soft noise, handing him another tissue. Evan is constantly in awe of how Jared manages to deal with the kids.

“Because I told my mom, and if _you_ don't tell Zoe, _Jared_ will, and he’ll make it as embarrassing as possible.” Evan replies. Jared glances over at them, meets Connor’s eye, and winks, before turning back to the little boy. “You know I'm right.”

“I wish she still read my diary.” Connor sighs and Evan glances into the outlet, seeing the jammed teddy bear and seeing Connor’s searching hand only a few inches away.

“A little to the left,” he directs and Connor’s hand closes over the soft toy.

He retrieves the teddy bear from the machine and hands it off to Jared to gift to the little boy. The boy squeals and hugs it tight to his chest. Jared pats him on the head and directs him back over to his parents. “This whole situation would be a lot easier if she still read my diary.” Connor continues, standing back up.

“You write about me in your diary?” Evan says, with a smile, laughing a little when Connor groans. “No, wait, that's something we’ll discuss later. For now, go and tell you sister what's happening.”

“What about you?” He asks, and they start walking, very slowly. Jared heads in the direction of the counter, probably to try and wheedle free candy out of Heidi, an endeavour that Jared has learnt many times is fruitless.

“Me?” Evan says, absently, and almost trips on a stray sharpshooter gun. He replaces it quickly and catches up to Connor.

“Yeah.”

Evan gives this thought as they finally spot Zoe over at _Whack-A-Mole._ “I'm gonna hang out with Alana and try to distract her enough that she doesn't win on the Cyclone machine.” He settles on, and sets his sights on Zoe’s determined girlfriend, face illuminated by the flashing lights of the game.

“Good plan.” Connor says.

“Mm.” Evan agrees.

“Alright, break.” Evan kisses him, quickly, on the cheek and they split off.

Evan wanders over to Alana at the Cyclone machine, keeping an eye on Connor as he approaches Zoe, playing _Whack-A-Mole,_ from the corner of his eye. Evan does his best to try and distract her, as per the rules of the Cyclone machine, ever since the Giant Pikachu Plushie Event, throwing in buzzwords like _“seminar”_ and _“homemade jam”_ and _“international competition”._

It does little to sway her. In fact, she looks less annoyed, and more annoyed.

“Also, Connor and I are dating-” Alana slams the button and the machine starts playing the loudest jingle it has programmed.

“OH MY GOD!” Alana basically screams and Evan can only stare, in shock as the machine beeps and flashes and starts spewing out ticket after ticket.

Zoe and Connor’s conversation has gone quiet and then Zoe yells, “Alana?”

“I WON.” Alana shouts, turning to face Zoe. “I ACTUALLY WON.”

“WHAT? BABE!” Evan watches, shocked, as Zoe sprints across the arcade and kisses Alana full on the mouth, lifting her up by her thighs to settle on her hips. They break away from each other and Alana settles one arm around Zoe’s neck so she can safely pump her other fist in the air and yell, “I WON!”

They circle the arcade about three times before Zoe puts her down and faints on the floor.

**(6/7/17, 1:31 pm)**

~

 **{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** longtime patron _@AlanBeck_ just won big on the Cyclone machine and bought us out of plush toys. thanks, Alana. **}  
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{Meme @AlanBeck** _@Hansen_Arcade_ I have a feeling that was very sarcastic. **}  
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{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** _@AlanBeck_ no. why would you think that? **}  
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{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** _@ConnorMurphy’s_ privileges as account administrator have been taken away. **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@Hansen_Arcade_ i regret nothing **}  
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{TICJK @Cronchkleinman** _retweeted @Hansen_Arcade’s post: “@ConnorMurphy’s privileges…”_ thank god, we’re free from his reign of sarcasm. **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@CronchKleinman_ you should be so lucky **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _retweeted @ConnorMurphy’s post: “you should be so…”_ *distant screaming* **}**

**(6/7/17, 2:30 pm)**

~

It's a Saturday night, and it's one of the busiest they've had in months. The jukebox that they installed right before opening is playing a pre-requested playlist, audible through speakers in the roof all around the arcade.

And everything is going, surprisingly, smoothly. Much to the shock of all of the employees.

Of course, it isn't all relaxing. Connor does have to prep a few groups for laser tag, and Evan does have to get the stepladder more often than he'd like to retrieve something from the prize shelf, but, besides that, it's pretty much all smooth sailing.

Until, of course, Jared decides to boast his _Dance Dance Revolution_ skills to a very competitive Connor.

“So what you're saying to me is,” Connor has to shout over the music and the crowd to be heard, “you could beat me, any level, any time?”

And Jared grins, teeth shining in the lights from a nearby game. “That's exactly what I'm saying.”

Connor shakes his head and goes into the back room, retrieving money from his wallet. “You're on.”

Jared looks taken aback for a split second before glancing over to _Dance Dance Revolution._ “Right now?” He asks.

“Right now.” Connor repeats. “Let’s go.”

Evan shrugs at Heidi, as they set off, and hurries after them, towards the game.

Jared makes a show of picking the level, and Connor stands there, smirking, putting up his hair with the spare hairtie around is wrist.

“You're going down,” Jared tells Connor, and Alana and Zoe appear beside Evan, chewing on a shared bag of popcorn. Alana offers it to Evan and he takes a handful, the game starting up.

Apparently, Jared decided to go easy on him, because it's a relatively slow beginning. Connor looks almost bored with the footwork.

“How the _hell_ is he doing that?” Evan asks Zoe.

“We were both put through Irish dancing, as kids, as a part of learning our heritage, or whatever, and he moved on to tap. I picked up jazz ballet.” Zoe shakes her head, looking a little pained as she takes in Jared’s paranoid glances and Connor’s steely concentration. “Jared doesn't know what's coming. Connor is incredibly fast.”

Alana laughs through a kernel as Jared nearly trips, the moves speeding up on screen. Connor is barely breaking a sweat. It's obvious Jared regrets his choice. Evan blames the break in real competition for him, as he's played too many games with little kids, recently.

The level gets to top speed and they start to draw a crowd; a mix of classmates and intrigued strangers who clap and whoop for them. Evan joins in, after a while and notes the smile spreading across Connor’s face.

“You both suck!” Zoe yells, chucking a kernel of popcorn at Connor’s head. Alana hurrumphs.

“Babe, come on.” She says, bumping their shoulders together, lightly. Affectionately. “Leave them be.”

“They could do with a little heckling, and you know it.” Zoe retorts, a laugh clear in her tone.

“Shut up.” Alana says, lightly.

“Make me.” Zoe says, challenging.

Evan stares at the spectacle that is Connor and Jared playing _Dance Dance Revolution,_ instead of looking at Alana and Zoe having a very... _intimate_ moment.

“We’ll be back.” Alana cries, shoving the bag of popcorn into Evan’s chest - making him stumble, a little, in surprise - and grabbing Zoe’s hand. “Let us know who wins!”

Only about thirty seconds after Zoe and Alana retreat to the bathroom does the game end. Jared braces himself against the bar and wheezes. The game proclaims Connor the winner.

“Alright.” Jared pants, doubling over, hands on his knees. “I concede. You're the best.”

Connor sounds a little out of breath (and, _gosh,_ Evan could do with a lot more breathless Connor in his life) as he replies, “You fought valiantly. Another battle another time.”

Evan retrieves the tickets the machine expels as the crowd disperses, and turns around to find Connor, standing behind him, wearing a smirk that is bordering on a grin.

“How does it feel to be dating the local reigning champion of _Dance Dance Revolution?”_ He inquires, nonchalantly, and steals a couple of kernels of popcorn from the bag still in Evan’s hand.

“I dunno. It just means that my boyfriend is a dork with too much time on his hands.” He presses the tickets to Connor’s chest, feeling the unsteady beat of his heart against his palm as he tries to regulate his breathing. “And fifteen tickets to spend.”

Connor wastes no time in leaning down and kissing him, in response, hand bracing the bottom of his skull. Evan drops the bag of popcorn, in favour of grabbing Connor’s waist.

“Ew!” Jared cries, mockingly from the wall.

Connor pulls away from Evan to look back at his former opponent, eyebrow raised. “Want me to whoop your ass again, Jared?” He inquires. Evan’s a little transfixed by the shade of red Connor’s lips are turning. “It'd be so easy.”

“Try me.” Jared challenges, and takes off running towards the laser tag maze.

“I'll be right back.” Connor murmurs, hurriedly to Evan.

“Sure you will.” Evan laughs, and now Connor grins, properly.

Connor kisses the corner of his mouth, hands the tickets back to Evan, and chases after Jared.

Evan’s not sure what the fluttery thing in his chest and the thing pressing against his lungs and the absolute fondness he's feeling is, but he's not complaining. He cleans up the mess he made with the spilt popcorn, and buys Zoe and Alana a new bag, for when they emerge from the bathroom.

**(6/17/17, 2:04 am)**

~

  
 **{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** _@TreeBoi_ & _@ConnorMurphy_ spotted @ glow-in-the-dark mini golf, kissing on the light up course! **}  
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{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** _pic.twitter.com/kISS1Ngo_ **}  
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{TICJK @CronchKleinman** _@ZZZMurphy_ how is it that I find this image ridiculously cute? I feel humbled. **}  
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{TIhJK @CronchKleinman** PSA: changed username stands for “The Insanely humbled Jared Kleinman” **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** he got a hole-in-one, i was proud, everyone calm down **}**

**(6/18/17, 8:48 am)**

~

Pack ups have gotten easier. More efficient. They've fallen into a routine, and it's almost domestic how content they are with it. Only they could possibly consider their job domestic.

And yet.

Evan shuts the door and carefully locks it, shoving his key ring into the side pocket of his backpack.

Connor loops an arm around his waist and they silently make their way up the road.

It's so much more different than the first time, on the night they first kissed. It's so much better, in so many ways.

“So, mom’s making tacos.” Evan begins, conversationally. “Do you wanna come round?”

“Only if you let me drive you home.” Connor replies, tone light but serious.

Evan stops them and cups Connor’s face, softly, in his hands, thumbs, smoothing over the bumps of Connor’s cheekbones.

“Sometimes I wonder how exactly I got this lucky.” Connor says, and his brow furrows.

“You lost a game of air hockey.” Evan whispers, back.

Connor’s lips are cooler than the air around them, his skin soft against Evan’s nose. Evan leans closer, looping his arms around Connor’s neck. Connor pulls him closer by the waist, kissing him deeper, even as their teeth clack together, a little and Evan stifles a giggle.

Evan diverges from Connor’s mouth, shining red in the neon sign from the arcade, not too far from them, kissing up his cheek and forehead before Connor tugs him back.

They don't get to do this often. Work and school get in the way.

It's why Evan likes pack ups so much now.

“About those tacos.” Connor murmurs, and Evan laughs, leaning his forehand against Connor’s and closing his eyes.

“You have to carry me.” He murmurs, tiredly.

“Done and done.” And Evan yelps in surprise as Connor stoops down, looping his arm under Evan’s knees and then his shoulders, lifting him up to his chest as he continues on to the car. Evan wraps an arm around Connor’s neck, easing the ache beginning in his side because of the awkward position.

“You must really love me.” Evan notes, and has to give Connor credit for his only minorly surprised reaction.

“Well, sure.” Connor says, and round the car, setting Evan down in his feet by the passenger side door. “But I also really love tacos, so who can be sure what my motive really is?”

Evan waist until they're both in the car, sitting at the traffic lights to reach over and tangle their fingers together. “Connor, I do love you.”

Connor breathes out, heavily, and smiles, the lights turning green. “I love you.”

**(6/24/17, 4:12 am)**

~

 **{TIhJK @CronchKleinman** selfcare is taking NyQuil, drinking a can of redbull,  & engaging in a knifefight w/ Pennywise the Dancing Clown in ur local stormwater drain **}  
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{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** _retweeted @CronchKleinman’s post: “self care is taking…”_ we never should have taken you to see IT **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** in other news IT (2017) was really good. i would ride or die for Finn Wolfhard **}  
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{Evan @TreeBoiii** _@ConnorMurphy_ you were gripping my hand like a vice seven minutes in **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@TreeBoiii_ DID YOU EVEN WATCH THE MOVIE IT WAS GODDAMN TERRIFYING **}  
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{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** Evan voice: nah, bro, i was too busy watching your eyes **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _retweeted @ZZZMurphy’s post: “Evan voice: nah…”_ blocked and reported **}  
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{Meme @AlanBeck** he's just angry because it's true **}**

**(6/25/17, 11:32 pm)**

~

“No peeking!” Heidi says, leading him, carefully out of the car.

“Mom,” Evan huffs, good naturedly. “I'm literally blindfolded.”

“As opposed to being _metaphorically_ blindfolded.” Comes Alana’s voice as the door opens and she takes his hand to help him inside. Evan has to admit, being blindfolded is not Great for his anxiety, but he's dealing with it, on his mother's behalf.

“Ah, he's here!” That's Zoe, and by the stomping noise that follows, she was sitting on the counter.

Heidi leads him through what feels like a maze, but is probably just their mismatched collection of arcade games, and stops him, carefully. “Okay, you ready?” She asks, releasing his hands.

“Well, sure.” Evan responds, and then swallows, attempting to rid his mind of the fear that something awful is going to happen and they're all going to laugh at him. “You know, as long as it isn't anything scary, or that kind of surprise that's really shocking and might send me into cardiac arrest, which would actually be quite a shame, considering I just turned eighteen-”

“Okay, dumb question.” Heidi cuts him off, and Evan silently thanks her. “Take off the blindfold.”

Evan reaches up and dislodges the scarf, pulling it off from around his eyes. For a moment he blinks blearily at the wall. Or, at least, what _used_ to be the wall.

Where the buffer between the arcade and the hipster café next door used to stand, there is now empty space, and support pillars every few meters.

And an empty space where the café once was.

He'd known it'd gone out of business, and that it had been sold to a new owner. He just didn't realise that the new owner was _them._

“Wait...what?” Evan rounds on his friends and his mother, all looking giddy.

“We wanted to surprise you!” Heidi says.

“Besides,” Zoe interjects, mouth blue from a slushie, not long ago, “I _did_ say I'd get it for your birthday.”

“Guys, this is…” Evan trails off. It's fantastic. They're gonna have so much more room. And once they put in the bumper car course...it's so good.

Right now, there's a rentable mechanical bull and a table of party food in the space.

They rush him and envelope him in a big group hug, which would've been a problem, were it anyone else.

“Happy birthday, Evan.” Alana says, and doesn't know what to say. So he just hugs them back and hopes that it says enough.

**(6/29/17, 5:49 pm)**

~

 **{All That Jazz @ZZZMurphy** IM YELLIGN JARED JUST TUMBLED HEDAFIRST OFFFF THE MECHA-BULL **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** _@CronchKleinman_ DID IT HURT WHEN YOU FELL FROM MECHA-BULL **}  
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{Hansen Arcade @Hansen_Arcade** _@ZZZMurphy @ConnorMurphy_ please stop tweeting about this - his parents could sue us **}  
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{TIhJK @CronchKleinman** NO RUGRATS **}  
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{callooh callay @ConnorMurphy** follow me on snapchat @ CMurph for more details, and a video of The Mecha-Bull Event **}**

**(6/29/17, 6:38 pm)**

**  
Fin.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU FOR READING THIS! If you liked it, please leave a comment and tell me what exactly you liked, and/or leave me a kudos, if you haven't already.
> 
> Thanks to @HamiltonTrash for the Sigmund Frued joke.
> 
> Thanks to any and all input for this fic, that goes for all the polls I did, and all the support I got when posting excerpts and such. If you'd like, hmu on Tumblr @nose-coffee.
> 
> Thanks guys, for reading, I really hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you like this, please feel free to leave a comment and/or a kudos, and hmu on Tumblr @nose-coffee. I have no idea where I'm going Wu this, or when I'll update, so hang tight, you guys.
> 
> If you're looking for something a little more interesting, or spooky, please check out the collaborative work me and two other authors (@HamiltonTrash and @ls201) are putting out, called "if only i could not see it", based on Stephen King's novel It.
> 
> Again, thank you!


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